The starting ignition and low-load stable combustion of the conventional industrial pulverized coal boiler rely on burning oil. In the year of 1999, the pulverized coal boilers of the state power system of China consumed about 2.87 million tons of oil, amounting to about 10 billion RMB yuan in value. Since the 1980's, the technologists of different countries focused on developing technologies adopting plasma technology in directly igniting the pulverized coal. An Australian has developed a plasma ignition device, in which the electrodes are protected with nitrogen gas and fat coal is burned. The former Soviet Union has made a large amount of fundamental research and made experiments in power plants in Baoji and Shaoguan in China respectively in 1996 and 1998, but the experiments were not successful. The Tsinghua University and Harerbin Boiler Factory in China have also made a large amount of research.
Various plasma ignition devices for directly igniting pulverized coal developed in different countries failed to achieve progress in some important technical problems such as ensuring the continuous operation of the generator and preventing the burner from coking, thus have not been adopted widely.
A Chinese patent of utility model of the applicant CN no.99248829.x, has disclosed a plasma ignition device used in an axial flow type burner adopting bi-stage powder delivery. However, the burner has some shortcomings. To come extent, coking and ablation will occur. In addition, the coal type that can be burned in the burner is unique and the burner's operation is unstable. For example, the cathode of the burner is a graphite rod, which tends to drop scraps during operation and lead to short circuit and make the voltage unstable.
For overcoming said shortcomings, the applicant filed and was granted a Chinese patent for utility model CN no.00245774.1, entitled as “metal electrode used in plasma ignition device”. The electrode disclosed in the patent still has some shortcomings: the anode tends to be damaged during arc starting, the voltage waves greatly, the cathode is short in life and expensive. Therefore, the wide application of the plasma ignition device is influenced adversely.